Nepal Investigative Multimedia Journalism Network (NIMJN), with support from Australian Aid, held the second of its six trainings on ‘Reporting on Human Trafficking and Human Rights using Multimedia Tools’ for journalists in Biratnagar, Nepal. A total of 20 journalists from all over the Koshi province gathered in Biratnagar for the two-and-a-half-day training from December 8 to December 10, 2023. 

Australian Ambassador to Nepal, Felicity Volk, joined in on the first day of the training and reflected on the timeliness of the training, citing the ongoing 16 days of activism against gender-based violence (November 25 to December 10, 2023) and the approaching World Human Rights Day on December 10. “...I think it is a critical time to be honing your media skills to promote and protect human rights. Because more than ever, wherever we look around the world, human rights are under siege. And this is happening in all arenas but we see it especially in relation to gender-based violence and also to human trafficking. So more than ever we need your very powerful voices in defense of those whose rights are being eroded. You are the watchdogs of democracy...We need your investigative skills to identify and bring to light human rights violations…We need your courage to ensure that the perpetrators are held to account…And we need your resilience to make that commitment to stay at the front line to safeguard human rights and to safeguard the truth”, she said.

The two-and-a-half-day residential training consisted of sessions ranging in topics from introduction to investigative reporting and ethics of journalists to anti-trafficking laws, stories of survivors, use of online and digital tools, and safety of journalists. Maiti Nepal Morang’s psychosocial counselor, Gitanjali Sharma Gyawali, and Advocacy Forum Nepal’s provincial coordinator, Rukmina Dahal, were invited as local guest speakers, in an effort to help the participants learn about the status of human trafficking and human rights in Koshi through the local actors directly involved in the work. Other trainers included Kalpana Bhattarai, a NIMJN fellow, Dinesh Regmi, a senior NIMJN fellow and a journalist reporting on migration and human trafficking issues for Kantipur Daily, and Rajneesh Bhandari, NIMJN’s chief editor. 

The training included a lot of group work where the participants came up with their investigative story ideas, formed hypotheses on them, and discussed how they could be realistically pursued. They also participated in practical mobile journalism assignments where each of the participants had to make a one-minute-long video using the video and editing skills that they had learned during the training. The videos were later showcased on the last day of the training.

The participants comprised 12 female and 8 male journalists from various media outlets and districts in Koshi province. After the training completion, they can apply for the NIMJN Human Trafficking Reporting Fellowship, under which 2 journalists from Koshi province will have the opportunity to produce an investigative multimedia story on human trafficking and human rights under the mentorship and editorial support of NIMJN.

“In Nepal, the concept of pitching is still not common. But here (at NIMJN), we have a very systematic way of dealing with the story pitches…We work through story-based inquiry method so they need to have a specific hypothesis and evidence before they start the investigation.”, said NIMJN’s Chief Editor and CEO Rajneesh Bhandari.

Here are some excerpts from participants regarding their experience in the training:

“This training enabled me to learn the techniques for carrying out in-depth, ethical reporting on these critical issues. It also enhanced my understanding of the legal provisions related to human trafficking and human rights amidst precautionary measures journalists should take while reporting on these critical issues.” - Elina Diyali, Radio Kabeli 95.8 MHz (Translated from Nepali to English)

“ Previously while reporting, I used to consider human trafficking and human smuggling as the same thing. But after attending this training, I understood that these are totally different. Secondly, I learned that while reporting on such issues, we need to be mindful of relevant laws and regulations. This training provided me the opportunity to learn about these important distinctions and legal provisions.”  - Chiranjibi Ghimire BK, Nayapatrika Daily (Translated from Nepali to English)

The rest of the training will be conducted in the remaining 3 provinces of Nepal (Bagmati, Karnali, Lumbini) in the upcoming months.